This semester has been an eventful time for Greenhill’s Fine Arts students. After a full semester of working hard, students are happy to be able to present their work.

To celebrate the culmination of the first semester, Greenhill Singers performed at NorthPark Mall on Dec 14 and put on a Holiday showcase at Greenhill on Dec 10.

The members of Greenhill Singers put in a lot of effort and time throughout this past year and are proud of how they performed, despite having a smaller group. They have been working hard planning for winter and spring events to celebrate their work.

“We have been working towards singing at NorthPark and the holiday sing-along which is on Friday and then also our spring concert; and then, we are practicing for baccalaureate and graduation,” said senior Laya Venkat who has been a part of Greenhill Singers for four years.

Greenhill Band had a strong start to the school year by supporting the football team during games and preparing for auditions. The band members are excited to finish the semester with the holiday sing-along.

“At the beginning of the semester we worked on pep music to support the football team from the stands,” said junior Ayne Park, who plays the flute. “After the fall season, we transitioned to preparing for ATSSB and TPSMEA (Texas Private School Music Educators Association) auditions that were held in November and now we are working on a holiday musical for the Holiday sing-along.”

Greenhill Orchestra has seen many successes thus far into the year. Many of the members tried out for the TPSMEA All-State Orchestra. Sophomore violinist Varun Mukund made the orchestra. In the coming weeks Mukund will audition again to determine his chair in the orchestra. Freshman Aaron Kuang received a position as Cello First Chair alternate.

Greenhill’s Orchestra visited Ursuline Academy Oct 17 for a showcase. Orchestra also performed at the Lower School Nutcracker performance hosted on Dec 14. To round off the semester, they will perform Dec 17 for the Greenhill Holiday Sing along. Senior violinist, Vijay Agarwal, has put in a lot of preparation for this event, as well as many others.

“We have been working hard up to these major events, because it’s important we do so,” Agarwal said.

Advanced Video Production (AVP) has been helpful for students to destress as the semester gets busy. The students have been working on end of the semester short films. Kendall Poglitsch, sophomore, has used AVP to express her passion for filmmaking.

“AVP is more of a chill class right now, I really enjoy that aspect of a stress free work environment where we can do what we love,” said Poglitsch.

The Greenhill Debaters have had many successes this semester. World Schools, Lincoln Douglass, and Policy Debate recently traveled to the University of Texas at Austin for The Longhorn Classic tournament, on Dec 2-4.

World Schools competed in New Orleans Dec 9, in the Isidore Newman tournament. Juniors Abeera Amer, Reyna Diamond, Angela Kamgang, and sophomore Sherry Zhang won the tournament.

Junior Adam Kesselman and Freshman Sarah Koshy closed out the Varsity Lincoln Douglass division at the Heritage Hall tournament, making them two co-champions on Friday, Oct 30.

Freshmen Dhiya Hemchand and Rory Liu and sophomores Harris Xie and Gautam Chamarthy closed out the JV Policy Division at the Glenbrooks tournament, making them co-champions of that tournament which took place on Nov 21.

Freshman Isabel Bhatia won top speaker at the Hockaday tournament, which was her first tournament.

Seth Lee finished preliminary debates at the Glenbrooks tournament, the hardest tournament of fall semester, with a 7-0 record.

“I can’t wait for the second semester of debate, and state,” Chamarthy said.

Sculpture and ceramic students finished their end-of-the-semester projects, and their work is on display in the Fine Arts Building. Students had around four major projects and a critique at the end of each project.

In photography, students finished up their final portfolios. Throughout the semester, students were entered in various photography contests. Junior Julian Meyer, was entered in the Fort Worth Country Day Black and White photography competition.

“I don’t think I placed, but it’s cool knowing Mr. Lopez enters us into these competitions,” said Meyer.

Within the new Design and Innovation elective, students had presentations where they presented their findings from a semester of trial and error and are looking forward to next semester when they can continue their work.

“Students are going to put their research in presentations and present their prototypes and failed experiments,” said Thomas Martinez. “It should be pretty cool, let’s see what it looks like.”

On Dec 15, students displayed their semester work to their peers and parents.

To celebrate the hard work that the art classes, including Drawing, Painting, Studio Design, and AP Art have done, Lesley Rucker spotlighted students by hanging up their artwork around the MPAC for the rest of the community to appreciate.

Students have also utilized Fine Arts classes as a way to take a mental break from their hectic schedules.

“Painting this semester has been a way for me and many others to destress,” said sophomore Ana Blankson, a student in Painting 1.

After a successful first semester in the Fine Arts classes, students are already looking forward to continuing and starting new projects in the New Year.